Lesser prairie-chicken listed as threatened

Last week Kansas Governor Sam Brownback added his state to a federal lawsuit against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) over listing the lesser prairie chicken as a threatened species.

In response to what the agency considers “a rapid and severe decline of the lesser prairie-chicken,” USFWS announced the final listing of the species as threatened under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The agency did however add a final special rule that will limit regulatory impacts on landowners and businesses from the listing. Under the law, a “threatened” listing means the species is likely to become in danger of extinction within the foreseeable future; it is a step below “endangered” under the ESA and allows for more flexibility in how the act’s protections are implemented.

The lesser prairie chicken is found in Kansas, Oklahoma, Colorado, New Mexico and Texas. The Fish and Wildlife Service said it would grant these states special exemptions from the listing to proceed with an already-planned five-state conservation plan.

Oklahoma filed the original federal lawsuit challenging the agency’s process in considering the listing. The two states are suing despite USFWS exemption.

“The federal government made this decision despite concerns raised by the states directly affected by this decision,” Brownback said.

“This is an overreach by the federal government and is another example of the Obama Administration aggressively and unnecessarily intruding into our daily lives.”

Kansas officials said they do not yet know what additional federal regulations might be imposed by the designation of the birds as threatened.

Kansas is also looking at another possible management decision on species within the state.

Kansas’ Senate passed SB 276, which declares “state sovereignty over non-migratory wildlife,” which would prohibit the federal government from regulating species like the lesser prairie chicken.

The bill has opened debate on whether or not the federal government would even accept it. The House has not acted on the bill.

According
to USFWS numbers, there are about 17,616 lesser prairie chickens spread
populating the five states. The birds’ numbers have dropped
dramatically—84 percent in the past 15 years and 50 percent in the last
year alone—creating what USFWS believes is a necessity for the listing.

Brownback
told reporters that the federal government should have let Kansas and
other states proceed with their conservation plans and should not have
designated the species as threatened. While threatened is not as serious
as endangered, Brownback said the restrictions that come with the
listing would have a substantial negative impact on the state’s
industries, specifically agriculture, oil and wind energy.

In
its announcement of the threatened species designation, the Fish and
Wildlife Service said it would “allow the five range states to continue
to manage conservation efforts for the species and avoid further
regulation of activities such as oil and gas development and utility
line maintenance that are covered under the … range-wide conservation
plan.”

While the regulations have yet to be revealed, the states’ concerns remain.

“We
haven’t seen the final rule yet. … But it’s our anticipation that this
will result in enhanced intrusion into the operations of agricultural
landowners and energy,” Brant Laue, chief counsel for the governor’s
office said.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Dan Ashe said in a statement that the agency had no intention of adding new regulations.

“The
states remain in the driver’s seat for managing the species—more than
has ever been done before—and participating landowners and developers
are not impacted with additional regulatory requirements,” Ashe said.

USFWS did praise the ongoing conservation efforts in their release.

“In
recognition of the significant and ongoing efforts of states and
landowners to conserve the lesser prairiechicken, this unprecedented use
of a special 4(d) rule will allow the five range states to continue to
manage conservation efforts for the species and avoid further regulation
of activities such as oil and gas development and utility line
maintenance that are covered under the Western Association of Fish and
Wildlife Agencies’ (WAFWA) range-wide conservation plan.”

This
conservation plan was developed by state wildlife agency experts in
2013 with input from a wide variety of stakeholders. The special rule
also establishes that conservation practices carried out through the
USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service’s Lesser Prairie-Chicken
Initiative and through ongoing normal agricultural practices on existing
cultivated land are all in compliance with the ESA and not subject to
further regulation.

“The
lesser prairie-chicken is in dire straits,” said Ashe. “Our
determination that it warrants listing as a threatened species with a
special rule acknowledges the unprecedented partnership efforts and
leadership of the five range states for management of the species.”

USFWS
has considered the lesser prairie-chicken, a species of prairie grouse
commonly recognized for its colorful spring mating display and stout
build, to be a species in trouble for the past 15 years. Its population
is in rapid decline, due largely to habitat loss and fragmentation and
the ongoing drought in the southern Great Plains.

“To
date, we understand that oil and gas companies, ranchers and other
landowners have signed up over 3 million acres of land for participation
in the states’ range-wide conservation plan and the NRCS’ Lesser
Prairie Chicken Initiative,” said Ashe. “We expect these plans to work
for business, landowners and the conservation of prairie-chickens.”

In
addition to the rangewide conservation plan and the Lesser Prairie
Chicken Initiative, a number of other on-the-ground programs have been
implemented over the last decade across the bird’s five-state range to
conserve and restore its habitat and improve its status. Key programs
such as the USDA’s Farm Service Agency’s Conservation Reserve Program,
the Bureau of Land Management’s New Mexico Candidate Conservation
Agreement, the Service’s Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program and
Candidate Conservation Agreements with Assurances in Oklahoma, Texas and
New Mexico, are engaging state and federal agencies, landowners and
industry in these efforts.

Collectively,
these programs—and in particular, the range-wide conservation
plan—serve as a comprehensive framework within which conservation of the
lesser prairie-chicken can be achieved. The various efforts are similar
to a recovery plan, something that the USFWS normally prepares after a
species’ listing. This early identification of a strategy to conserve
the lesser prairie-chicken is likely to speed its eventual delisting.

However,
threats impacting the species remain and are expected to continue into
the future, USFWS said. After reviewing the best available science and
on-theground conservation efforts focused on the species, US- FWS
determined that the lesser prairie-chicken is likely to become
endangered in the foreseeable future and warrants listing as threatened
under the ESA. The agency was under a courtordered deadline to make a
listing determination on the species by March 31.

The
final rule to list the lesser prairie-chicken as threatened and the
final special rule will publish in the Federal Register and will be
effective 30 days after publication. Copies of the final rules may be
found at the USFWS website at http:// www.fws.gov/southwest.com

A
conservation plan developed by the Western Association of Fish and
Wildlife Agencies (WAFWA), and adopted by the five states, has a goal of
increasing the population to 67,000 birds.

Oil
and gas companies, ranchers and other landowners have pledged to devote
more than 3 million acres in the five states toward conserving the
bird’s habitat. Most of the acreage was set aside in the aim to prevent
the bird from being given federal protection as a threatened species.

Thirty-two
private companies in five states representing oil and gas, pipelines,
electric transmission and wind energy have committed to enroll more than
3.6 million acres in the Lesser Prairie-Chicken Range-wide Conservation
Plan, providing about $21 million for habitat conservation over three
years.

Enrolling
companies get regulatory assurances through a special USFWS rule or a
Candidate Conservation Agreements with Assurances (CCAA) permit, so that
if the species is listed the companies have a pathway to continue
operations and development in the region. The companies agree to pay
modest enrollment fees, follow a list of guidelines to minimize impacts
on the bird, and agree to pay for impacts they cannot avoid. The money
goes to farmers, ranchers and landowners to protect and restore habitat
for the bird.

“The
range-wide plan represents more than a pathway to mitigate industry
impacts,” said Bill Van Pelt, Grassland Coordinator with WAFWA.

“It
also serves as a way to unify all existing lesser prairie-chicken
programs under a common set of goals to conserve the species. Each of
those programs has been successful in its own right.”

Van
Pelt said those related efforts include the Conservation Reserve
Program managed by the US- DA Farm Service Agency (about 3.4 million
acres across the bird’s range), Working Lands for Wildlife Program and
Lesser Prairie- Chicken Initiative managed by the USDA Natural Resources
Conservation Service (about 800,000 acres), the New Mexico Candidate
Conservation Agreements and CCAA managed by the Center of Excellence for
Hazardous Materials Man agement (about 1.5 million acres of industry
enrollment and 1.75 million acres of ranching enrollment), and
farming/ranching CCAAs in Oklahoma and Texas (about 820,000 acres). — Traci Eatherton, WLJ Editor